Rabies

Rabies, also called hydrophobia or lyssa, acute, ordinarily fatal, viral disease of the central nervous system that is usually spread among domestic dogs and wild carnivorous animals by a bite. All warm-blooded animals, including humans, are susceptible to rabies infection. The virus, a rhabdovirus, is often present in the salivary glands of rabid animals and is excreted in the saliva; thus, the bite of the infected animal introduces the virus into a fresh wound. Under favourable conditions, the virus propagates along nerve tissue from the wound to the brain and becomes established in the central nervous system. After a time it spreads via nerves to the salivary glands, where it frequently produces a foaming at the mouth. The disease develops most often between four and six weeks after infection, but the incubation period may vary from 10 days to eight months.

Rabies virus travels quickly in a bitten animal (e.g., raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes, dogs, and cats, among other smaller animals) from the bite to the central nervous system. The disease often begins with excitation of the central nervous system expressed as irritability and viciousness. A rabid animal is most dangerous during the early stages of the disease because it appears to be healthy and may seem friendly but will bite at the slightest provocation. Wild animals that appear to be tame and that approach people or human habitations in the daytime should be suspected of having rabies.

Infected dogs usually show a short excitation phase that is characterized by restlessness, nervousness, irritability, and viciousness and is followed by depression and paralysis. After a few days they are unable to bite any more because the muscles of the throat are paralyzed; they seek only a quiet place to hide and die from the rapid spread of paralysis. Sudden death without recognizable signs of illness is also not uncommon. Dogs that develop the predominantly excited type of rabies invariably die of the infection, usually within three to five days after the onset of symptoms. Those that develop the paralytic type of rabies without any evidence of excitation or viciousness may recover on rare occasions. Paralysis of the “voice” muscles in rabid dogs may produce a characteristic change in the sound of the bark.

Rabies in humans is similar to that in animals. Symptoms include depression, headache, nausea, seizures, anorexia, muscle stiffness, and increased production of saliva. Abnormal sensations, such as itching, around the site of exposure are a common early symptom. The muscles of the throat become paralyzed so that the person cannot swallow or drink, and this leads to a dread of water (hydrophobia). The mental state of a person infected with rabies varies from maniacal excitement to dull apathy—the term rabies means “madness”—but soon the person falls into a coma and usually dies in less than one week owing to cardiac or respiratory failure. Sometimes rabies is characterized by paralysis without any evidence of excitation of the nervous system. In such cases the course of the disease may be prolonged to a week or more.

There is no cure for rabies. The incubation period (the time that elapses between the bite and the first symptom) is usually one to three months but in rare cases has been as long as several years. This provides a chance to interrupt the otherwise inevitable progress of the infection. The bite should be washed immediately because much, if not all, of the virus can be thus removed. The bitten patient should then receive a dose of antirabies serum. Serum is derived from horses or humans that have been immunized with attenuated rabies virus; it provides the patient with already prepared antibodies against the rabies antigen. The treatment is effective if given within 24 hours after exposure but has little, if any, value if given three or more days after infection by rabies.

Active immunization with rabies vaccine should also be initiated to allow the patient’s body to make its own antibody. The safest and most effective vaccines are human diploid cell vaccine (HDCV), purified chick embryo cell culture (PCEC), and rabies vaccine adsorbed (RVA). With older vaccines, at least 16 injections were required, whereas with HDCV, PCEC, or RVA, 5 are usually sufficient. Persons at risk of rabies by virtue of occupation (e.g., veterinarians) or travel to endemic areas should receive rabies vaccine as a form of preexposure prophylaxis.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Robert Curley, Senior Editor.